AT THE BUNGALOW
The uproar in the kitchen was so terrific that all the boys in the
living room of the bungalow leaped to their feet in alarm.
“I’s killed! I’s killed!” roared Jeff. “I’s stung to death!” and, with
a clattering of a kettle on the floor, the colored man came dashing
into the living room flourishing a frying pan in one hand.
“What is it, Jeff? What has happened?” questioned Gif.
“It’s a snake! A great big long snake! Right on the shelf over the
stove!” wailed Jeff. He dropped the frying pan on the floor. “He done
stung me on the hand and on the arm! I’s a dead man!” and he began to
moan pitifully.
“What kind of a snake was it, Jeff?”
“Did he rattle?”
“Was it a blacksnake?”
“I don’t know what he was! He was behind some old newspapers and
magazines! I done put my hand up there to get down a salt-shaker and
he pushed his head out and stung me――stung me twice, right on the
hand and on the wrist. I’s a dead man! Somebody run for a doctor. If
I don’t gets a doctor I’ll be dead before mornin’,” and Jeff began to
move around the living room, swinging his injured hand and moaning and
groaning loudly.
Of course all of the boys were alarmed. They had had several adventures
with snakes, some of them poisonous, and they knew that all that Jeff
said might be true. On the other hand, they realized that the snake
might be almost harmless.
Although they had left a large part of their luggage behind when
starting on the walk through the woods, they had brought with them
a shotgun and a pistol. Grabbing up the shotgun, Jack walked to the
kitchen door.
“Flash your light in, Gif,” he said, for the illumination made by the
kerosene lamp in the kitchen was rather dim. “If that snake is still on
the shelf a dose of shot at such close quarters will soon finish him.”
With caution the two boys advanced into the kitchen of the bungalow. At
first Gif flashed the light all over the floor, and especially in the
corners.
“What about that thing over there, Jack?” he exclaimed suddenly.
“Only a dirty dishcloth,” answered the Rover boy.
Having made sure that no snake was lurking on the floor of the kitchen,
Gif picked up a broom that was handy.
“I’ll shove the stuff off the shelf with this,” he said. “If you see
anything of the snake, blaze away.”
“I sure will,” answered Jack, raising the double-barreled shotgun and
placing his finger on one of the triggers.
The others had crowded to the doorway to see what was taking place,
leaving Jeff still moaning and groaning in the living room. The colored
man was sure that he was going to die――that he had been poisoned.
Holding up the searchlight so that the rays fell full upon the kitchen
shelf, Gif elevated the end of the broom, and then, with a quick
motion, sent the newspapers and magazines flying to the floor at one
side of the stove.
As the mass of reading matter came down some dirt and a small wiggling
object not over two feet long came with it. Jack was ready to fire, but
suddenly thought better of it and, leaping forward, placed his foot on
the object.
“Just a plain little garter snake,” he said, with a laugh. “If I had
shot it there wouldn’t have been enough left to show Jeff.”
“Maybe the big snake is among the papers,” suggested Fred, who stood
just behind Gif.
“We’ll soon see,” returned Gif, and with the broom he scattered the
papers and magazines in every direction and with it a quantity of dust
and cobwebs. But nothing in the way of a reptile appeared.
“Here, give me that snake,” said Gif, after they had looked around the
floor carefully. And catching the little reptile by the tail he snapped
it into the air, almost severing the head from the body. Then, still
holding the snake, he went into the other room.
“Here’s the thing that stung you, Jeff,” he said coolly. “Those stings
won’t hurt you any more than the sting from a good big mosquito. You
ought to be ashamed of yourself for getting so scared over nothing,” he
added, a bit more sternly.
Jeff was crouched before the fire, rocking to and fro and moaning. Now
he looked up with staring eyes at the little snake Gif was holding.
“Tha――tha――that ain’t the snake what stung me,” he faltered.
“Yes, it is, Jeff. We just got it out of that bunch of papers on the
shelf. There isn’t another snake anywhere around. How this little thing
got in and on the shelf, I don’t know. Must have crawled in through
some little hole in the floor or the wall.”
“I――I――I’m certain sure it was a big snake what stung me,” mumbled the
colored man.
“Oh, Jeff, you’re full of tacks!” answered Jack. “Go on back into the
kitchen and look for yourself.”
“A little snake like that couldn’t harm anybody,” came from Andy. “Why,
a hundred of ’em wouldn’t be any worse than a bunch of mosquitoes!”
Jeff looked rather sheepish. He examined his hand and his wrist, and
then moved rather slowly toward the kitchen.
“I never did like no snakes,” he said. “I had a cousin once down South
got bit by a moccasin and he didn’t live no time at all. When snakes is
dangerous they’s dangerous, and I don’t want none of ’em around me.”
“If you’re afraid to go into the kitchen and get us something to eat,
I’ll go in there myself,” said Gif sharply.
“Oh, I’s goin’! I’s goin’!” answered the colored man hastily. “We’ll
have supper in a few minutes. Ain’t much to cook, as I done told you
before.” Then he resumed his preparations for the repast.
Even when it was ready the supper did not amount to a great deal.
However, the boys managed to make it do, and, thoroughly tired out,
were glad enough to go to bed early.
As Gif had told them, the bungalow was a low, rambling affair. On
each side of the big living room were three bedrooms and there were
more bedrooms in the rear. Behind the bungalow was a long, low shed
which, Gif explained, had occasionally been used for “the overflow” of
visitors to the fishing club resort.
The boys decided that they would bunk together, two in a room, thus
occupying two rooms on one side of the big living apartment and one
room on the other. Jeff was to use a small room directly off of the
kitchen.
“I’s goin’ to make sure there ain’t no snakes in my bed,” he announced
when getting ready to retire.
The two fires had dried out the bungalow thoroughly, and, utterly worn
out with their day’s exertions, the Rover boys and their chums slept
soundly until nearly eight o’clock the next morning. When they arose
they found that the storm had cleared away and that the sun was shining
as brightly as ever.
“This is something like!” declared Fred, as he went out on the porch of
the bungalow and stretched himself. “My, what a pretty view!”
It was all of that, and the other boys came out to gaze upon the scene
before they finished their toilets. They could look up and down the
long lake for miles. In front of them were the pretty little islands
known as the Cat and Kittens, all covered thickly with brushwood.
“If it wasn’t for the islands we could look right over to the
Willoughby camp,” said Gif. “It’s right in that direction,” and he
pointed with his hand.
“Looks to me as if we were going to have rival camps,” was Jack’s
comment.
“I hope those Longley fellows keep their distance,” came from Fred. “We
didn’t come up here to have our outing spoiled by Flanders, Sands and
that bunch.”
There was very little to eat for breakfast, and this being so, the lads
resolved to go back along the path through the woods without delay and
bring in the remainder of their luggage and other stuff left behind.
“You can come with us, Jeff,” said Gif. “I want you to help us with the
boxes of provisions.”
“Don’t you want me to stay at the bungalow and clean up a little?”
asked the colored man, who had no desire for anything in the way of
strenuous work.
“No, you come along. You can clean up after we get back.”
“Have you a long boathook handy, Gif?” asked Spouter. “You know, Randy
and I want to rescue our handbags if we can.”
“Sure! We’ll take a couple of them along,” was the answer.
It did not take the party long to reach the place where the two
rowboats and their supplies had been left. They had covered the
supplies with a raincoat and with some tree branches, and now found
them in fairly good condition.
“What do you say, Fred, if you and I go back with Jeff and carry all
we can,” said Gif to the stout young Rover. “Jack and Andy can help
Spouter and Randy look for the lost baggage and the missing rowboat.
Then, when they get back, we’ll have a good meal ready for them.”
“Suits me,” said Fred, and in a little while he and Gif set off in
company with Jeff, each loaded down with all he could carry. This work
did not suit the colored man at all, but Gif paid scant attention to
his grumbling.
The other boys found it no easy task to locate the missing suitcases.
They paddled around in both boats for the best part of a quarter of
an hour without success. Then Jack suggested that he undress and look
around as best he could under water.
“Well, you take care that you don’t get stuck the same as I was,” said
Randy.
“I’ll be careful, don’t fear,” was Jack’s answer. “I’ll take one of the
poles down with me.”
He was soon in the water, and after diving several times managed to
locate Spouter’s baggage and fasten it to the boathook. Then this was
hoisted up, and Jack went down again, and after another long search
found the rest of the baggage.
“That’s fine, Jack!” said Randy, when his suitcase came up. “I suppose
everything will be soaked, but I don’t know of much in there that the
water will hurt.”
“You’ll certainly have to do over your neckties, and maybe your
shirts,” said Andy, with a grin.
“Oh, well, a little thing like that doesn’t count,” answered his cousin.
Having recovered the things from the bottom of the lake, the four boys
set out on a search for the missing rowboat.
“The wind was blowing toward the east shore,” said Jack. “Maybe we’ll
find it along there somewhere under the overhanging bushes.”
They pulled around in one of the boats for the best part of half an
hour, but without sighting the missing craft. By this time the sun was
mounting in the sky and they were beginning to feel hungry.
“Guess we’d better get the other boat and go back to the bungalow and
come out again after we’ve had something to eat,” suggested Spouter.
“It may take a whole day or more to locate that missing boat.”
They were about to turn toward the other shore of Great Bear Lake when
they saw a rowboat coming out of a cove just below them. The rowboat
contained four young fellows, two of whom were rowing and the others
taking it easy in the bow and stern.
“Must be some of the fellows from the Longley camp!” exclaimed Spouter.
“More than likely,” answered Jack. And then, as the distant boat swung
further out of the cove, he added: “And look! They’re dragging an empty
rowboat behind them!”